Giro-E, Stage 21
GIRO-E STAGE NUMBER 21
The last stage of the Giro elettrico started from the Stalingrad of Italy, nickname of one of the most industrialised areas of the country in the past: Sesto San Giovanni. An agricultural village with mansions until the 19th century, Sesto became the Italian capital of heavy industry (Falck, Breda, Marelli) in the early 20th century. In 1996, the last of Sesto’s large industrial concerns, Falck, closed. Since then, the area has been the subject of major urban redevelopment projects. Worth visiting are the noble villas, built between the 16th and 18th centuries, such as Villa Torretta, Villa Pelucca, Villa Puricelli Guerra, Villa Mylius and its gardens, and Villa Campari. There is also notable industrial archaeology, with the former T3 blast furnace and the overhead travelling bridge at the Breda archaeological park, as well as the Falck Village, a workers’ village built by the factory that bears the same name. Sesto was one of the first cities to install electric vehicle recharging stations: there are now 28, each with two recharging points. There are also three sharing points for electric scooters and an extensive network of cycle paths.
On the evening before the start, Saturday, directly back from Alpe Motta, Sesto celebrated the protagonists of the Giro-E with an exclusive dinner at Villa Campari, where participants, captains, team managers and their sponsors renewed the atmosphere of cordiality and cheerfulness that has characterized the whole Giro-E 2021.